Iran strongly rejects comments by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, in which he blamed Tehran for the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, as showing that the minister has a poor understanding of the Middle East.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says that Fabius’s statements in no way lift responsibility from the Zionist regime and its supporters for the war crimes they have committed against the Palestinian people.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will respond forcefully to “any violation of the ceasefire” that was signed yesterday with Hamas.

So why the HELL hasn’t he ordered return fire from our air force or artillery? He’s all talk, no walk. It’s a dangerous path to take because we will find it very hard to believe a single thing he promises in the future.

In a conversation Thursday with the mayor of Sderot, a southern town regularly targeted by rockets from Gaza, Netanyahu said the eight-day military operation concluded Wednesday achieved its goals.

“The goal was not to conquer Gaza but to deal Hamas a deadly blow, and that is what we did,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by his office.

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz orders the arrests after a sharp increase in terror activities in the West Bank during the past few days. Among numerous incidents were two shooting attacks and several large riots.

An army source says that among those arrested were members of the Hamas government and senior activists from both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

The reserve officer critically injured on Wednesday in a rocket attack on the Eshkol region undergoes overnight surgery. The officer suffered serious head injuries from the rocket attack and remains in a critical condition.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak acknowledges that Israel may be forced to engage with Hamas again, even in the near future, but dismisses claims that Israel should have captured the Gaza Strip in order to remove Hamas from power.

No one is demanding we capture the Gaza Strip. But we could have done much more to disable Hamas before agreeing to a ceasefire.

But, he says in an interview with Israel Radio, removing Hamas from power and occupying the Strip will create a situation where “we’ll be forced to stay [in the Strip] for years.”

“You can topple the Hamas regime, but the problem is, you don’t know how to get out of” ruling Gaza, he says.

So the solution is to give up and let Hamas stay? What kind of strategy is that? I have no solutions, but it’s not my job. It’s the job of our government, their advisers and strategists to figure out a solution, not just to raise our hands in despair. If that is the case, what was the point of going to war now?

Barak insists that the IDF has come out on top in this round of hostilities — despite Hamas claims to the contrary — saying that “what they were hit with is no small thing… While our chief of staff will be addressing the press soon, their chief of staff is in the ground.”

But what about the residents of the south? How did they come out? How’s their economy doing? Their mental health? Their morale?

Hamas, he continued, “only succeeded in hitting Israeli targets with a single ton of explosives, while targets in Gaza were hit with a thousand tons.”

I repeat my above questions.

“We have a powerful, effective military, and we succeed in hitting Hamas hard,” Barak says.

7 Responses to “We cease, they fire”. So much for that “ceasefire”

Here’s my take on the situation, from the Israeli perspective:
This is simply a hiatus in the operation until after the election. There is no doubt that we will have to grab a wedge of territory between Gaza and Egypt (a wider Philadelphi Corridoor) and hold it permanently to stop the flow of arms from Sudan/Sinai/Egypt to Gaza. This is the only policy to ensure the end of rocket fire into Israel, that world opinion will (just about) tolerate, and such an operation can’t be done 60 days before an election (note Liberman’s comments 2 days ago). Meanwhile we’ve proven (a) the efficacy of Iron Dome, (b) the resilience of our citizenry, and (c) the good level of preparedness of ground forces, reserves, logistics, supplies. Also Bibi has proven to Israelis (and himself?) that on the main issues there is full agreement and support from President Obama. Finally, we have de-fanged Hamas before any action is taken against Iran. Will we have to do the same against Hexbollah?

There have been rumours that Obama made the price of his support for a Gaza ground operation acceptance of a Palestine state in much of the West Bank. Whether or not this is so, it is possible that in some way Obama did turn the screws on Netanyahu to force him to accept a clearly unstable and even farcical ceasefire.

There’s a lot of logic in what you say David, and if it’s true – if – then I would feel slightly happier about the whole thing. However, this:

There is no doubt that we will have to grab a wedge of territory between Gaza and Egypt (a wider Philadelphi Corridoor) and hold it permanently to stop the flow of arms from Sudan/Sinai/Egypt to Gaza

Absolutely true. But it being true does not mean the gov’t has the b#lls to make it happen.

This is the only policy to ensure the end of rocket fire into Israel, that world opinion will (just about) tolerate,

I have my grave doubts. They might keep shtum to start with if rocket fire persists or increases, but I don’t see them agreeing to another “occupation” long-term. And this “occupation” would be yet another grievance held against us by the Palis. Although I suppose that makes not much difference long-term.

Finally, we have de-fanged Hamas before any action is taken against Iran

Have we? Enough? I bet within weeks or a few months at most they will have restocked their arsenals.

I wish Shabat shalom
I write poetry and I thought I would share these with you
Never look back just look forward
I never look back, all too painful,

Just look forward there is always hope

Look forward the seasons grow

Like family it always grows,

From one generation to another

We see those seeds grow.

As so does Love.

We don’t want war, just love.

To see the fruits and flowers

Of our seeds that grow.

To grow old, knowing

That our life, like a branch

Of a tree, grows like a tree of life

From one generation to another.

The fruits of life grow, like a tree of life.

Full circle like life it’s, self.

Hi their world is beautiful
The world is a wonderful place,
One can look at how those enjoy
The days of remembering, and the years gone by
Sitting at the computer, staring out of the window,
Thinking of the years gone by,
Remembering how the children were playing in the garden
Wishing they would grow older,
Now they are older wishing they were small.

Now they are older wishing I was younger,
Now they are older I see myself as they were
Never seeing how the years have flown by, as I was busy
Looking at what I missed as they grow older
Happy Times more than I had, always finding life so hard
Allowing more than I ever had pleased that I can give them more
To make life easy, than I ever had.
To make life their beautiful, as I found hard
Never assume that life is the same for ever

Hi their world is beautiful
The world is a wonderful place,
one can look at how those enjoy
The days of remembering, and the years gone by
Sitting at the computer, staring out of the window,
Thinking of the years gone by,
Remembering how the children were playing in the garden
Wishing they would grow older,
Now they are older wishing they were small

Now they are older wishing I was younger,
Now they are older I see myself as they were
Never seeing how the years have flown by, as I was busy
Looking at what I missed as they grow older
Happy Times more than I had, always finding life so hard
Allowing more than I ever had, pleased that I can give them more
To make life easy, than I ever had
To make life their beautiful, as I found hard
Never assume that life is easy, life is as we get older.

As the clock tower strikes one the children enjoy the sunny day
There the is sky
Like a lake of love,
Watching the mother duck leading her children
Like a line there carefully watching that none